The Boroughs: Series Review

Nobody cares about old people. Not even old people.

The Boroughs – a community for retired people – is advertised as a place where you’ll have the time of your life. Note this is not always a good thing.

The Boroughs – the show – is also advertised as being produced by the same people who did Stranger Things, and there are many similarities. However, instead of kids thrown into inexplicable danger, five geriatric heroes and one toy boy find themselves battling monsters.

The series begins with Sam Cooper moving reluctantly into a house in the retirement community. This project was his wife’s idea, not his, but between signing the contract and the day of the move, she died. As he does not want to be there, he is rude to everyone. Nevertheless, after a hallucination which must make him question whether or not he should be on his own, he decides to stay. After having rebuffed his neighbors, he starts reaching out to them.

As I’m older, I appreciate shows with the geriatric. A truth about older people is that we all have back stories and The Boroughs acknowledges that. They make Judy an experienced journalist who looks stuff up (Art, her husband, calls it snooping). Sam is a retired aeronautical engineer. We learn Jack was a weatherman and Wally is a doctor. Renée was a suit in the music business. In other words, they are all educated and reasonably well-to-do, which makes sense, because otherwise they could not afford to live in The Boroughs (although both Renée and Sam have financial challenges).

I’m comfortable with this slice of upper middle class, but I want to acknowledge it’s a small slice of society. Many, many seniors do not live that well.

Now, the very lightest of spoilers follow. You have been warned.

The plot of The Boroughs is similar to Stranger Things. Odd things happen, some decidedly dangerous, others just peculiar – who, or rather what, is stealing quartz? – some so weird that they are hard to talk about because they sound crazy. In Stranger Things, the kids were reluctant to say anything because their parents would think they were making things up. For the elderly, the problem is similar, but this time with the possibility of a dementia diagnosis and a loss of freedom.

Even though we know when it is set – 2025, 75 years after the founding of the retirement village – the feel is very retro. Yes, there are cell phones and surveillance cameras and modern technology, but we also see old-fashioned TVs everywhere. They are often playing old shows in black and white, especially in The Manor, the locked-in area where those with dementia are kept. An old-fashioned TV is used in The Boroughs intro, and they are even relevant to the plot.

Instead of riding bikes, they often drive around in golf carts. Well, most characters have cars/trucks as well, although not Sam, because one of his eyes is bad.

In comparison to the kids of Stranger Things, our heroes have more knowledge, more experience, more confidence in what they are doing. But they have their limitations. They are not all in good shape, hampered by age and illness (I like the first episode where they compare scars).

And, although death is the enemy, as it is in Stranger Things, the heroes of The Boroughs understand this is a battle they will eventually lose. In the second episode, "The Mourning After," the creators and the actor Alfre Woodard do an amazing job showing Judy’s immobilizing grief when she loses someone she loves.

One thing I liked is how it’s clear that others have tried to fight the monsters. Edward warns Sam. Sam is also informed that he is not the chosen one (I got sick of Eleven's special powers), not the first choice.

Another thing I like: by the end of the series, the baddies and the monsters are different shades of gray. Our good guys win, but even the worst of the worst are redeemed a little. The worst are just trying to survive, to save those they love, albeit at terrible prices. Blaine quotes Robert Browning, which is kind of neat; even the very awful Hank has a moment of redemption.

Near the end of The Boroughs, just as in the end of the first season of Stranger Things, Sam, like Will, has a scene in the bathroom. Sam’s cut on his forehead is bleeding, a thread that could be turned into plot if there were a second season. But The Boroughs was not renewed. Instead there’s just one season with a total of eight episodes. This makes it ideal for a binge but without a long-term commitment.

Title musings. The Boroughs is the title of the series. “Borough” is an old British word meaning medieval town, while in the US it can be a municipality, or one of the five boroughs of NYC. It has just enough pretension for the retirement village. It works fine.

Bits and pieces

The Boroughs has a transition manager. The concept is great, but the job title sounds very much as if they transitioning to the afterworld (perhaps the point).

Geena Davis is in the cast. The Boroughs does an homage to her most famous scene in Thelma and Louise.

I have nothing inherent against retirement communities, as long as they don’t come with monsters. Some are very good.

A test for dementia should be whether or not you can escape the dementia ward. If you can, you don’t belong. Sam, Renée and Judy all pass the test.

When I was drafting this, I first used Lilly as the name for the Judy character. Later I realized why. Judy is played by Alfre Woodard, who was Lily in Star Trek: First Contact.

As someone particularly fond of crows, I was glad to see one get a role.

Quotes

Kayleigh: I'm Kayleigh, your transition manager. It's my privilege to guide you through every step of your time here. I hope it's okay, but I told the movers to start unloading. The boxes are so well-labeled. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given you are an engineer.
Sam: I was an engineer. But now I'm a prisoner.

Art: You're not a reporter anymore.
Judy: Journalist.
Art: And that makes it stalking.
Judy: His wife died of a stroke five months ago. Oh, gosh. She was young. Not even seventy. Worked for Northrop Grumman. Thirty-five years as an aeronautical engineer. So we know he's smart.

Renée: Hey! I'm trying to thank you!
Sam: I don't want it. I just want some sleep.
Renée: Well then, say you're welcome.
Sam: Excuse me?
Renée: Here's a tip. When somebody says, "Thank you," you just say "You're welcome" instead of being a snippy little b*tch. The other person will go on their way, and you can go back to doing what all grumpy old men love to do.

Jack: But the truth is, people come here to live. Everybody's trying to figure out what to do with the time you got left. And that's young people, old people. It doesn't matter.

Mansour: A patient comes to me. He's in his sixties.
Wally: Early sixties.
Mansour: Has stage-four prostate cancer. He's tried surgery, radiation, chemo, even proton beam therapy. Nothing's worked. And now the cancer's spread to his liver. What would you tell him?

Art: Some cultures believe that's what you crows are, psychopomps. Spectral beings who escort the souls of the dead.

Art: I was thinking maybe I'd go out to the desert for a couple of days, do some camping, give you some space.
Judy: I didn't ask for any space.
Art: Well, I could use some.

Sam: How much did it cost?
Wally: Oh, seven... give or take...
Sam: Thousand?!?
Wally: Can't take it with you, Sam.

Wally: Look. You got two choices. We can give up. Or we can go all the way. We both know where the first one ends. Nobody knows where the second one leads. What do you want to do?
Sam: Whose golf cart are we gonna take?

Judy: I'm not deluded. I see the – the years etched across my face. And I feel the weight of my body.

Sam: You look like shit!
Wally: I have cancer. What’s your excuse?

Wally: The tragedy is, we were just senile enough to think that we could stop them.

Sam: Why me?
The Duchess: You weren’t her first choice.

Blaine: We need your help. And if you fail, we're all dead. But, I promise, you and your friends will die first.

Wally: These fools have discovered the fountain of youth. They've been given the gift of infinite time. Know what they do with it? Play pickleball and make lavender cupcakes.

Renée: Maybe you could... help us.
Hank: Now, why would I do that?
Renée: Because there is nothing better than sticking it to someone who stuck it to you first.

Overall rating

The Boroughs makes a pleasant binge. I watched it twice, the second time to catch the clues that I missed the first time. I enjoyed both times and some bits I liked very much. It was lovely to be with real adults instead of having to go through another coming-of-age story. Still, I was not moved to any particular emotional highs or lows and I did not have any epiphanies of wisdom. Three out of four old-fashioned TVs.

Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.